Sola Scriptura is the Protestant doctrine that the Bible alone is our highest, best, and final authority for Godly living. This does not remove the need for the church, but it does mean that the church is guided by the Scriptures, not the other way around.
As you can see, this doctrine has caused some of the strongest conflicts between Rome and the Protestant community. The Roman Catholic Church argued at the Council of Trent (AD 1545-1563) that the Bible required the Church to teach and explain it, because many passages in Scripture are "obtuse" as Cardinal Bellarmine claimed. Hermann (possibly Archbishop-elector of Cologne) said the Bible is no more clear than Aesop's Fables if not for the Catholic Church's interpretation, and Johannes Eck claimed that Scripture is acually "inauthentic but by the authority of the Church."
This is why there is conflict. Rome asserts that Scripture must be guarded and maintained by the guidance and interpretation of the Church's Magisterium, while Protestant theology teaches that the Bible is fully capable of speaking for itself, and alone corrects the Church. In simpler terms, Rome teaches that the Church is over the Bible, while Protestants declare the Bible is over the Church.
In this article, we will take a look at some passages in Scripture to see which side is closer to truth and reality.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTS
Jesus said to Nicodemus in the Gospel of John "You must be born again!" (John 3:3) It's clear that He was referring to spiritual re-birth, not physical re-birth. So what does it look like when we are spiritually re-born? The Apostle Paul wrote:
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
To be born again means to be filled with the Spirit, the very mind of Christ. We are able to think like Christ. St Peter wrote that God "granted to us everything pertaining to life and Godliness." With the very mind of Christ in us, we can actually live our lives in concert with the Spirit, even if that means imperfectly.
St Luke wrote:
So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.
When Luke wrote this, there was no such institution as Roman Catholicism. As Christians, we have been granted everything, we have the mind of Christ, and when we seek God we can find Him. That's not a Catholic principle - that's a Christian principle.
When a Jewish woman praised Jesus' mother by saying to Jesus "Blessed is the womb that bore You; blessed are the breasts that nursed You" Jesus corrected her and said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it." We are most blessed not when we praise Mary, we are most blessed when we hear God's Word and obey it.
Sola Scriptura
Notice that there is no command to depend on a priest in order to hear God's Word and obey it. Rome is insistent that, yes, believers can read Scripture independently, but under the care and interpretation of the Magisterium. As we said earlier, there was no Roman Catholic Church in the 1st century. All the injunctions to pursue God's Word, learn it, interpret it, and live it were given at a time when there was no Roman Catholic institution at all. Believers were advised to seek God alone through Scripture alone.
In John's Gospel chapter 18:20-21, Jesus said something remarkable. When he was arrested and interrogated by the Jewish High Priest, he was asked about His teaching. Read carefully to what Jesus said in response:
I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together, and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them - they know what I said.
This is a perfect example of how believers understood Jesus' teaching without the hierarchical structure of Roman Catholicism, no need for a Magisterium, and no need for a catechism, as appealing that those things may be.
In Luke's Gospel chapter 16 verses 22-31, Jesus told the parable of a dead man who asked for Lazarus to be sent to his living relatives and be warned about the perils of Hell. Father Abraham denied the dead man's request and stated:
"They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them." "But the dead man said, 'No, father Abraham, if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!' Abraham replied, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead."
According to Rome, Abraham should have clarified that prayers to Mary would be helpful. Abraham could also have allayed this dead man's fears by explaining purgatory. But he didn't.
It should be obvious by now that "listening to Moses and the Prophets" means reading Scripture. The Prophet Isaiah wrote:
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. When they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
Note very carefully that the references to "the law and the testimony" are clear indicators of the written Word of God. The very point of this passage is to stop anyone from claiming they have authoritative words apart from Scripture. The reference to "the law" is a clear reference to the written law of Moses, and the phrase "...and to the testimony" is a reference to the reports by believers about the law.